Image Searching....

The graphic at left was created by Emily Feigenschuh for the Texas State Library Texas Teens Read! 2009 summer reading program. This year's theme is Time Twistin' TTR.09.

Texas Teens Read! is sponsored by the Texas State Library and Archives Commission in an effort to encourage teen summer reading and becoming lifelong readers and library users. I selected the artwork because I think it will be a very effective promotional tool and as an aspiring school librarian I want to support programs and activities that promote reading.

The image was found at http://www.tsl.state.tx.us/ld/projects/ttr/2009/images/ttrposter_300.gif . The Acceptable Use Policy for the artwork can be found at http://www.tsl.state.tx.us/ld/projects/ttr/2009/use.html

Databases: Snowball Search Method...

The assignment for this exercise was to construct a database search using the snowball or citation pearl growing method. I continued with the same topic and S1, S2, and S3 facets as in the previous database search methods with the following results:

Question: Are social network sites safe for preteen?

Database: Books in Print

S1: social network sites or chat rooms or blogs or online communities
S2: safe or secure or protected or harmless
S3: preteens or tweens or kids or children
S4: S1 and S2 and S3

I conducted an S4 search which returned 13,194 hits. I browsed the first couple of pages and opened several links for books with titles relevant to social networks. I noticed that they all had Computers or Internet as subject keywords. So, I revised my search to include Internet as a Subject Keyword and that search returned 157 hits.

The hit shown following used the word Parenting as a Subject Keyword.

Title:
Me, Myspace, and I: Parenting the Net Generation
Author: Larry D. Rosen
Publication Date: December 2007 (Confirmed)
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
Country of Publication: United States
Market: United States
ISBN: 0-230-60003-4
ISBN13: 978-0-230-60003-4
EAN: 9780230600034
Item Status: Active Record (Readily Available)
Binding Format: Perfect
Edition: illustrated
Pages: 258
Price: $16.95 (USD Retail) Macmillan (Distributor)
Also Available Through: Baker & Taylor Books; Bertrams Books; Brodart Company; DLS Australia, Pty Ltd. (Library Sales Only); Emery-Pratt Company ; Gardners Books Limited; H. B. Fenn & Company, Ltd.; Ingram Book Company; J. A. Majors Company; NACSCORP, Incorporated; Powells.com
Current Language: English
Audience: General Adult
Bowker Subjects: PARENTING
INTERNET AND CHILDREN
BLOGSMYSPACE (FIRM)
ONLINE SOCIAL NETWORKS
General Subjects (BISAC): FAMILY & RELATIONSHIPS / Parenting / General
COMPUTERS / Internet / World Wide Web
COMPUTERS / Social Aspects / General
COMPUTERS / Internet / General
LCCN: 2007-024917
LC Class #: HQ799.2.I5R66 2007
Dewey #: 305.2350285/4678
Physical Dimensions (W x L x H): 5.52 x 8.24 x .73 in..55 lbs.
Synopsis/Annotation: Young people spend hours online each day online, and their abilities to multitask and communicate are often misunderstood by older generations. Dr. Larry Rosen offers a full overview of the various issues young people may experience in their online worlds (cyberbullying, addiction, sexuality, virtual friendships, and more) while at the same time challenging commonly held beliefs that these communities are damaging. Instead of using scare tactics, the book shows parents how to be proactive and anticipate potential problems. With his extensive background in both child development and the impact of technology, Dr. Rosen uses down-to-earth explanations of sound psychological theory, incorporates groundbreaking research, and shows parents and educators how social networking sites like MySpace and Facebook can improve adolescent socialization skills.
Author Info. Larry D. Rosen is a professor of psychology at California State University.

So, I revised my search again and added Parenting as a Subject Keyword. This search resulted in 2 hits. The book above was one of the hits, but the other which is more appropriate to my search is

Title: MySpace Unraveled: A Parent's Guide to Teen Social Networking from the
Directors of BlogSafety. com
Author: Lawrence J. Magid Anne Collier
Publisher: Prentice Hall PTR
Country of Publication: United States
Market: United States
ISBN: 0-321-48019-8
ISBN13: 978-0-321-48019-4
Item Status: Active
Record (Available for Order)
Binding Format: E-Book
File Format (Size in KB): netLibrary
Price: $11.99 (USD Retail) NetLibrary, Incorporated (Distributor)
Also Available Through: NetLibrary, Incorporated
Current Language: English
Bowker Subjects: INTERNET AND CHILDREN
MYSPACE (FIRM)
ONLINE SOCIAL NETWORKS
General Subjects (BISAC): COMPUTERS / Social Aspects / General
COMPUTERS / Internet / General
LC Class #: HQ799.2.I5M34 2007

To continue with the snowball method, I would modify my next search to include the INTERNET AND CHILDREN as subject keywords.

Without knowing what it was called, this is probably the type of search I conduct most often. I start with what I think are appropriate keywords or subjects and narrow my focus based on the keywords and subjects found in relevant articles.

Databases: Specific Facet...

Continuing with the same topic of preteens and the safety of social network sites, I constructed a specific facet search as follows:

Question: Are social networking sites safe for preteens?

Database: Lib Lit

Facets:
social network sites or chat rooms or blogs or online communities
preteens or tweens or kids or children
safe or secure or protected or harmless

I searched the S2 terms first because I thought going ahead and searching on the target age group would give the best results. Hits = 2554. Too many.

I then searched S1 and S3 individually and had 9038 hits for S1, and 21537 for the S3 facet.

I followed up with an S4 building block search (social network sites or chat rooms or blogs or online communities) AND (safe or secure or protected or harmless) AND (preteens or tweens or kids or children) and got 11 hits that were relevant to my search.

Following is a link to one of the 11 hits resulting from the specific facet search:

Title: Not your Mother's Parenting Books
Other Titles: Bibliographical essay
Personal Author: Riess, Jana
Journal Name: Publishers Weekly
Source: Publishers Weekly v. 254 no. 32 (August 13 2007)
p. S8, S10
Publication Year: 2007
Abstract: Part of a special section on religion publishing. Christian publishers are producing books that deal with Internet-driven social networking. Connie Neal, author of MySpace for Moms and Dads: A Guide to Understanding the Risks and the
Rewards, says she is attempting to help bridge the technology gap between parents and kids over social networking sites as the kids understand the technology but need
the parents' wisdom and experience to be safe. The theme of having parents involved, monitoring their kids' activities online, is echoed in other up-to-date tech books for parents of teens and tweens, a new but growing subcategory in Christian publishing. Another forthcoming book in this sphere will come with the September release of Vicki Courtney's Logged on and Tuned Out: A Non-techie's Guide to Parenting a Tech-Savvy Generation, from B&H Publishing Group.
Subject(s): Publishers and publishing/Religious literature; Parenting/Bibliography; Religious literature/Evaluation; Social networks; Microcomputers/Children's use
Physical Description: Illustration
ISSN: 0000-0019
Language of Document: English
Document Type: Bibliography
Database: Readers' Guide (Current Events); Library & Information Science
Accession Number: 200722501035014

In my opinion, this seems to be the least effective search method, even less than Boolean logic. If you are going to go to all the trouble of laying out a search stragegy, why would you search related phrases individually? It just seems to be waste of time.

Databases: Successive Fraction Searching...

This exercise is constructing a successive fraction search which I conducted using the same search terms as the building block search, but this time I used the Academic Search Complete database.

Question: Are social network sites safe for preteen?

Database: Academic Search Complete

(social network sites or chat rooms or blogs or online communities)
(safe or secure or protected or harmless)
(preteens or tweens or kids or children)

S1: (social network sites or chat rooms or blogs or online communities) 11,731 hits.
S2: (social network sites or chat rooms or blogs or online communities) AND (preteens or tweens or kids or children) 630 hits.
S3: (social network sites or chat rooms or blogs or online communities) AND (preteens or tweens or kids or children) AND (safe or secure or protected or harmless) 23 hits.

Following is one of the articles resulting from the successive fraction search:

Title: Staying Safe on the Read-Write Web. (cover story)
Authors: Johnson, Doug doug0077@gmail.com
Source: Library Media Connection; Mar2008, Vol. 26 Issue 6, p48-52, 3p, 1 color
Document Type: Article
Subject Terms: *WEB 2.0*CYBERBULLYING*COMPUTER
crimes*PREVENTION*INTERNET & children*WORLD Wide Web*INTERNET in education*BLOGS*WIKIS (Computer science)*VIRTUAL reality*LIBRARIES & schools*INTERNETONLINE social networks
NAICS/Industry Codes: 517110
Wired Telecommunications Carriers517919
All Other Telecommunications518210
Data Processing, Hosting, and Related Services519130
Internet Publishing and Broadcasting and Web Search Portals
Abstract: The article discusses important points relevant to dealing with the Web 2.0 to protect children and young adults from cyberbullying and other Internet harms. It highlights the popular manifestations of the social Web as of fall of 2007 including ocial networking sites, blogs, wikis, social bookmarking sites, and three-dimensional 3-D) virtual environment. It offers tips to schools and libraries on how to protect oung students who access the Internet for educational purposes from cybercrimes. ne of these tips is the restriction of interactive web sites.
ISSN: 15424715
Accession Number: 31174901

This method also does not seem to be an efficient use of research resources. Going back to my comments on the specific facet search, it just doesn't seem to be very efficient to not use the whole strategy once you've identified what the relevant search strings should be.